4 Colo. Code Regs. § 723-3-3102
Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 11, June 10, 2024
Section 4 CCR 723-3-3102 - Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for Facilities(a) A utility seeking authority to construct and to operate a facility or an extension of a facility pursuant to § 40-5-101, C.R.S., shall file an application pursuant to this rule. The utility need not apply to the Commission for approval of construction and operation of a facility or an extension of a facility which is in the ordinary course of business. The utility shall apply to the Commission for approval of construction and operation of a facility or an extension of a facility which is not in the ordinary course of business.(b) An application for certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct and to operate facilities or an extension of a facility pursuant to § 40-5-101, C.R.S., shall include, in the following order and specifically identified, the following information, either in the application or in appropriately identified attached exhibits: (I) The information required in rules 3002(b) and 3002(c).(II) A statement of the facts (not conclusory statements) relied upon by the applying utility to show that the public convenience and necessity require the granting of the application or citation to any Commission decision that is relevant to the proposed facilities.(III) A description of the proposed facilities to be constructed.(IV) Estimated cost of the proposed facilities to be constructed. If the facility is a transmission facility, the estimated costs shall be itemized as land costs, substation costs, and transmission line costs.(V) Anticipated construction start date, construction period, and in-service date.(VI) A map showing the general area or actual locations where facilities will be constructed, population centers, major highways, and county and state boundaries.(VII) As applicable, electric one-line diagrams.(VIII) As applicable, information on alternatives studied, costs for those alternatives, and criteria used to rank or eliminate alternatives.(IX) As applicable, a report of prudent avoidance measures considered and justification for the measures selected to be implemented.(X) For transmission construction or extension, the utility shall also comply with rule 3206.(c) For an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction or extension of transmission facilities, the applying utility shall describe its actions and techniques relating to cost-effective noise mitigation with respect to the planning, siting, construction, and operation of the proposed transmission construction or extension. The applying utility shall provide computer studies which show the potential noise levels expressed in db(A) and measured at the edge of the transmission line right-of-way. These computer studies shall be the output of utility standard programs, such as EPRI's EMF Workstation 2.51 ENVIRO Program -- Bonneville Power Administration model. The steps and techniques may include, without limitation, the following: (III) Design alternatives considering the spatial arrangement of phasing of conductors.(IV) Corona-free attachment hardware.(VI) Handling and packaging of conductor.(VII) Construction techniques.(d) For an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction or extension of transmission facilities, the applying utility shall describe its actions and techniques relating to prudent avoidance with respect to planning, siting, construction, and operation of the proposed construction or extension. As used in this paragraph, "prudent avoidance" means the striking of a reasonable balance between the potential health effects of exposure to magnetic fields and the cost and impacts of mitigation of such exposure, by taking steps to reduce the exposure at reasonable or modest cost. The steps and techniques may include, without limitation, the following: (I) Design alternatives considering the spatial arrangement of phasing of conductors.(II) Routing lines to limit exposures to areas of concentrated population and group facilities such as schools and hospitals.(III) Installing higher structures.(IV) Widening right of way corridors.(e) To the extent the information is known or can be estimated with a reasonable degree of certainty at the time the application is filed, an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction or expansion of generation facilities, including but not limited to pollution controls or fuel conversion upgrades and conversion of existing coal-fired plants to natural gas plants, must contain the following information regarding "best value" employment metrics:(I) the availability of training programs, including training through apprenticeship programs registered with the United States Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship and Training;(II) employment of Colorado workers as compared to importation of out-of-state workers;(III) long-term career opportunities; and(IV) industry-standard wages, health care, and pension benefits.(f) If the information regarding best employment value metrics specified in paragraph 3102(e) is not known at the time an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity is filed because the applicant has not yet entered into contracts for construction or expansion of the generation facilities for which a CPCN is sought (proposed project), then in the application the applicant shall state that, for the proposed project, it will obtain the information regarding best value employment metrics specified in paragraph 3102(e) from potential contractors through whatever means the applicant uses to select contractors for project construction. If one or more contracts are awarded for the proposed project, then, within 45 days after the last contract is awarded, the applicant shall file in the application proceeding a status report that contains for each contract the information obtained from the contractor with which the utility has entered into a contract (selected contractor) regarding how the selected contractor meets best value employment metrics. Any party may file in the application proceeding comments on this status report within 15 days of the filing of the status report with the Commission. The status report and comments are informational and, absent a Commission order, do not reopen the application proceeding. The utility may file any information regarding a selected contractor's wages on a highly confidential basis.38 CR 17, September 10, 2015, effective 9/30/201539 CR 06, March 25, 2016, effective 4/14/201639 CR 08, April 25, 2016, effective 5/15/201640 CR 22, November 25, 2017, effective 12/15/201742 CR 03, February 10, 2019, effective 3/2/201942 CR 07, April 10, 2019, effective 4/30/201942 CR 09, May 10, 2019, effective 5/30/201943 CR 08, April 25, 2020, effective 5/15/202043 CR 12, June 25, 2020, effective 7/15/202043 CR 20, October 25, 2020, effective 11/14/202044 CR 13, July 10, 2021, effective 7/30/202144 CR 24, December 25, 2021, effective 1/14/202245 CR 18, September 25, 2022, effective 10/15/202246 CR 02, January 25, 2023, effective 2/14/2023